Life without insults
by Aggie Deneys
Summary: Dick Grayson/Nightwing and Wally West/Flash arrive at a surprising realization about their friendship with Roy Harper/Arsenal.


Disclaimer: These characters aren't mine.

A knock sounded on the door. Dick Grayson, aka Nightwing, opened the door to his apartment. In the hallway stood his two best friends, Wally West, aka the Flash, and Roy Harper, aka Arsenal. "Hey, guys." He opened the door wider to allow them inside.

It was Friday night. Movie night. They had recently made a concerted effort to spend more time together outside of the costumes. The goal was to see each other once a month. At times, it seemed impossible. Two of them were incredibly busy. Dick patrolled Blüdhaven as both Nightwing and a police officer. In addition, he was part of the Bat family which meant he never quite knew when he would be summoned to Gotham. Wally patrolled Keystone City and Central City. He was also an active member in the Justice League. Roy had a bit more free time than his friends, at least free time from wearing the costume. However, his daughter, Lian, kept him more than busy.

Roy held up two six packs of beer. "Got the drinks."

"Got the food," Wally mimicked, holding three pizza boxes.

"You got the movie?" Roy asked.

Dick silently cursed. He knew there was something he had been forgetting. "Sorry, guys. It was one of those weeks."

"Don't worry about it," Wally replied, placing the pizza boxes on the coffee table.

"Don't worry about it? The guy had one job. Get a movie. How hard is that?"

"Roy." Wally's voice held a hint of warning.

Dick sighed. "I'll download something from the 'net."

Roy shook his head. "Nope." He reached into his jacket and pulled out two movies. "Figured I'd come prepared." Roy smiled.

His two friends returned the smile. Dick shook his head. "So, what'd you get?"

"It's a classic-"

"'Raiders of the Lost Ark,'" Dick and Wally replied in unison.

Roy scowled. "Well, it is."

"What else did you get?" Dick asked.

Roy grinned wickedly and turned the DVD cover so his friends could see. Dick smiled. Wally blushed to a shade of red that matched his costume. "I'm not watching porn," the red-head stated.

"Why the hell not?" Roy demanded.

"Because Linda would know."

"Well, it's not like you have to tell her."

Wally shook his head. "She'd know. She always knows when I'm lying."

"You wouldn't be lying," Roy pointed out, "just not telling her everything."

"She'd know." Wally couldn't explain it. At times, Linda understood him better than he understood himself. She could tell with a look whether he was telling her everything. Past experience had told him not to even try lying to her.

"How would she know?"

"She'd just know, okay?"

"Man, you're not even married yet and she has you totally whipped."

Wally frowned. Dick decided it was time to end the discussion. Both men had tempers that matched their hair color. Dick knew they were only a comment or two away from an argument. "Roy, knock it off," Dick warned. "No porn. You can watch it at home when Lian's asleep."

"Whatever." Roy twisted the cap off a bottle of beer and took a healthy swig. He handed a bottle to Wally. He tried to hand another bottle to Dick.

"No, thanks."

Roy sighed. "What is it with you? One little beer isn't going to kill you. Daddy Bats won't know."

This time Dick frowned. "No." He purposefully took a bottle of water from the refrigerator. Growing up with Bruce had taught him to always be prepared. Who needed the Boy Scouts when he had Batman? Alcohol dulled the senses and reaction time. It was an easy sacrifice to make, especially since he figured he would be running across the rooftops at some point during the night.

"Man, Fleetfeet is whipped by his girlfriend and Batboy is whipped by Daddy Bats." Roy flopped into a chair and rested his feet on the coffee table. "It's porn. It's beer. Neither will kill you." Dick and Wally glanced at each other and shrugged.

Four hours later, the pizza had been eaten, the beer had been drunk (mostly by Roy) and Harrison Ford had once again saved the day. Roy was sound asleep on Dick's sofa. Wally helped Dick clean up. "You know, every time it's the same thing. He teases you. He teases me. Tell me again why we put up with him?" Wally asked, rinsing out the empty beer bottles.

Dick smiled. "Tradition?"

Wally shook his head, also smiling. "We're gluttons for punishment." Together they looked at Roy's sleeping form on the sofa. "Want me to take him home?"

"Nah, let him sleep. Lian's spending the night with Ollie. I'll kick him out in the morning. He should have a pretty good hangover, so I'll be able to mess with his head a bit. Give him a little payback."

Wally grinned, having a good idea of what Dick's idea of payback could be. "Well, I'll be going then. Take care, Short Pants."

"You, too, Twinkletoes."

* * *

One month later. Dick opened the door to his apartment. Wally smiled and held up two paper bags of Chinese takeout. Dick smiled. "Roy can't come. Lian's sick."

"Yeah, I heard. So, I sort of invited Kyle. It's the anniversary of when his girlfriend died. Figured he could use some cheering up. He should be here soon. He's bringing the drinks and the movie."

Three hours later, Kyle waved goodbye and left. Wally and Dick looked at each other. The night had gone okay. Food eaten, drinks drunk, movie watched, conversation had. Kyle had started out rather glum, but Wally and Dick had managed to make him smile and laugh by the end of the night. "You and Kyle seem to be getting along better," Dick commented, shoving the empty takeout containers into the garbage.

Wally shrugged. "Yeah. We're starting to find some common ground." He wiped down the kitchen counter. "He still has a lot to learn. He tends to hesitate a lot. I think he's afraid he'll be kicked out of the league if he makes a bad decision."

"Maybe I should share with him some of your bad decisions over the years," teased Dick. "We could probably start with trying to drive the Batmobile and then move on to-"

"Ha, ha. Very funny. Maybe I just need to show him a picture of you in version 1.0 of the Nightwing costume."

"Touché."

"Anyway," Wally started, bringing the conversation back to Kyle, "he doesn't seem to realize the league won't kick him out. They want – or in Bats' case need – to keep an eye on him. What better way than to make him part of the league? He has one of the most powerful weapons in the universe at his disposal, which I think he often forgets. I don't think he realizes how powerful he is or could be."

"The same could be said of you," Dick noted. He saw his friend's questioning gaze. "Wal, you've improved a lot since you first became the Flash. From what you've said about this Speed Force, you could become extremely powerful as well. You've already passed Barry in speed. You're also doing things Barry never could. Who knows what you have yet to learn."

Wally shrugged. "Yeah, whatever."

A silence fell between them as they finished straightening up. Dick leaned against the kitchen counter and surveyed the kitchen. "Wouldn't meet Alfred's standards, but he'd be impressed that I cleaned."

Wally looked closely at Dick. "Was something missing tonight?"

Dick smiled. "I was wondering whether you noticed. I thought the same thing. Kyle's nice and all, but I think we need to admit it-"

Wally held up his hand. "No, don't say it."

"That we missed Roy's insults," finished Dick. "It's not the same when we don't feel ready to knock him on his ass for some stupid remark. What's sad is that his insults are usually close to the truth."

"Man, my life has reached a new low when I need to hear insults to make my life complete."

Dick laughed. "It's not that bad. It's just-"

"That we have a sick and twisted relationship with Arrowbreath," finished Wally.

"You could say that."

* * *

Another month passed. Another Friday night with the boys. Dick opened his apartment door. In the hallway stood Roy and Wally. "Got the beer," Roy greeted holding up two six packs and stepping into the apartment. "And the movie," he added. "Not risking you being too busy." He smiled at Wally. "I didn't even get any porn. Heaven forbid you do anything to raise Linda's suspicions. I bet you've never even watched porn. Linda's probably just an easy excuse rather than admitting you're a porn virgin."

Wally bit back his snide remark. Anything he said would only add fuel to the fire. Besides, Roy was sort of right.

Roy walked to the kitchen and set the six packs on the counter. "Heard about this new microbrewery," Roy said, opening a bottle and taking a drink. "Not bad." He handed one to Wally before turning to look at Dick. "I got a note from Daddy Bats saying he won't clip your wings for drinking one little beer," he teased, holding out a bottle for Dick. "However, it may take at least another ten years before he even thinks of acknowledging you as his son."

Dick silently counted to ten, refusing to let Roy goad him into defending Bruce. Instead, he glanced at Wally. Wally looked at him. They each smiled, recognizing the sad truth. It felt good to spend time with friends…even Roy.


End file.
